Key ingredients of a power packed meal

Its my frequently asked FAQ as a dietitian and lifestyle coach "What is the perfect healthy and nutrition packed meal?" and so I have decided to give you a preview of what ingredients in a meal you must look out for to make it the power packed meal during the day. Whether you are on the move at work or sitting opposite your laptop or a stay at home person you need equally suitable power packed meal through the day if not the similar in calorific values. The key ingredients we are talking about would be segregated amongst protein food, fat, carbohydrate/ sugar and immunity boosters (yes they're my most important ones). Here I would specifically talk about the most power packed meal breakfast and then the afternoon snack before dinner that usually overrides the hunger pang due to erratic timings. 

Breakfast : The ideal way to kick start any day of your life is with water and protein rich food. Water is well known for its detoxification effect especially of the toxins pooled in your body overnight. Since you haven't been hydrated for about at least 8-9 hours post dinner or pre-sleep your body craves for some although you may not feel thirsty. In the breakfast the protein source you must have or rely on are the ones that push your metabolism with turbo charge and these would definitely be lean fowl, egg white or beans and sprouts or tofu or non fat dairy product for veggies. Remember if you are going to have any animal product you definitely cannot have it fattened like meat, fowl or eggs as also the case with dairy. The only source of fat you could rely on this early hour of the day is a spoonful of olive oil or any vegetable source that is not hydrogenated. You can choose between carbs or sugar and if you choose sugar make sure its not white or brown one but more natural like honey or fruit sugar. Although I would highly recommend taking complex carbs with fruit as the best combination for sugar in general. Always a whole wheat or rye or millet based bread and no simple starches even in veggies. The immunity pills to pop in are walnuts, raisins, almonds, pistachios(non salted), dry figs, apricots and trust me those are your best bet even to combat ageing. 

Afternoon Snack : The next pit stop after lunch is your afternoon snack just before evening when hunger pangs are getting to the best of you. No don't head of straight to the joint for a quick bite. Its these quick bites that get you up on the scale quickly. Stick to something light and yet filling. Carbs are definitely not your food of choice then, its more liquid or if you could stick to just fish or lean meat would be better with a huge helping of the fruit bowl or veggie salad. If you're a drink person around this hour stick with the non sweetened smoothies or juices they are much better and also hydrate your skin. Your idea of power packing around this time is to stall hunger or any craving until dinner time and if your workout is close by this time this meal would really push the metabolism. Immunity food here are fruits lots of them. 

There are any questions you may want to ask me please contact me and I sure would like to help you out. 

Wish you wellness, 

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Diet to Regulate Insulin Secretion for Fat Busting

Insulin secretion and its regulation has a significant influence on how our metabolism is carried forward. Metabolic processes like carbohydrate breakdown to generate energy, fat metabolism and protein metabolism are all linked to each other via insulin. Insulin as we know through previous post is our passport / visa to let glucose molecules enter our cells so as to produce energy by their breakdown, if there is a surge of sugar or carbohydrates in the intestine the insulin would gush in the blood stream in high concentration leading to a sudden drop in the blood glucose level. The sudden rise and fall of blood glucose leads to the body responding to the effect of hunger or in some extreme cases similar to starvation. In order to combat this hunger pang the body immediately gorges on to the first sight of food. Another surge another ping pong effect of glucose and so on and so forth. This ping pong effect of glucose and insulin secretion in the blood stream results in an imbalanced carbohydrate metabolism which then gets converted into fat by entering the fat metabolism. When excess of glucose gets converted into fat it means the body is storing the fat as adipose tissue and of course making you gain excess baggage. We do know now about Insulin resistance due to fat deposition on the organs.

In order to curb the imbalance in insulin secretion and metabolism the food that you eat and the duration that you maintain between two meals is the deciding point. The first meal of the day is the most important one and hence it is called breaking a fast from the previous day. The time period between your previous dinner and breakfast is easily nothing less than 9 - 10 hours and thats a longtime to be without any source of energy to the body. If now you eat a meal loaded with sugar or carbs, fat or a combination of both be certain you have just tilted the balance haywire. Remember on an empty stomach never give into a sugar surge but balance it with equal or just a little bit more portion of lean protein food. Protein molecules help control the sudden surge of insulin into te blood stream due to meal loaded with carbs. Choosing food in equal or double portion like chicken, egg white, soy, cottage cheese (skim), skim fruit/ plain yoghurt (non sweetened), beans, sprouts, and a handful of greens to go with it helps you balance the sugar - insulin levels that come along with the breads/ pasta, lactose, coffee/ tea added sugar, fruits, and root veggies like mash/ sweet potatoes. This was about breakfast but there is another time and most important time of the day when your body needs a handsome portion of protein before it needs those carbs, its the exercise time. 

Usually people eat judicious amount of carbs and simple sugar drinks an hour before workout but it usually translates into sudden spurt of insulin during exercise. Now of course you need to have adequate amount of glucose in the blood while exercising but if you're loaded the insulin secretion will cause one more of its side effects that you do not wish to occur. When insulin is secreted in heavy concentration it does not permit fat breakdown to take place but the opposite. The logic to this is that when you have ample of energy source as glucose in the blood the insulin's priority becomes glucose to enter the cells as energy source and it can do this successfully and completely if it haults fat catabolism for a while. Why do we workout ? So that we burn the excess fat and build up on muscular strength, and this won't happen if you let insulin surge just before the workout. My ideal pre workout snack is 250 ml of fruit shake with added 5 gm of whey protein and 1 tsp of honey or I just bite a whole wheat or soy bread 2 egg whites sandwich with 500 ml of water a hour before exercise. Keep drinking sufficiently balanced mineral and glucose drink upto 250 ml till the end of the workout. This will ensure hydration and a balance of the nutrient and energy flow to your muscles. If your workout is before breakfast you are lucky but even if it isn't stick to the plan. 

Make sure each of your meal breakfast, lunch and dinner aren't over burdened with fat and carb but are equally balanced with lean proteins. Do not out balance any one nutrient of the three (carb, fat, protein) in your meals and you should be fine. Like the Cinderella story I'd like to inform you that you can have any lean protein but before you down that piece of chicken, turkey, lean meat, fish, egg white or cottage cheese and beans there is one thing you cannot do with it.....you can't load it with fat, fry it or else the magic will disappear.

Wish you wellness.

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Preventive Diet for Diabetes

Previously I wrote about the basic shift in perspective as far as diabetic diet was concerned. Today I will throw some more light on how a diabetic diet can be as valuable to anyone even without diabetes yet not a compromise on taste. The essentials to prevent diabetes through your diet and not as a cure to the disorder.

Don't be turned off by the fact that I am recommending a diabetic diet for all, because practically a preventive diabetes diet is what we all need given that we live in an ever growing stressful environment. Preventive therapy takes a lot of effort and because you really don't see the disease or disorder lurking around you don't even feel the effect it has on your body. Preventive therapy as in case of diabetes is your best bet than a curative one and you'd want to take my word for it. 

Prevent Insulin Resistance - Most of the diabetic cases now days arise due to lifestyle hazards and not genetically as is the myth that diabetes is an inherent disorder from generation to generation.  The reason for such lifestyle oriented diabetic cases that enter the type II or Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus vicious cycle is because their cell membrane are laden with adipose tissue (fat) not permitting insulin receptors to bond with the insulin flowing through the blood stream of the localized organ. If more cells of vital organs or long limbs are fat laden insulin resistance of the body progresses into a full fledged diabetes mellitus. So how do we save ourselves from entering into this grave mouth of diabetes? Keep your total fat intake in the form of oil, animal fat up to 3 tsp a day i.e. 500 gm per month. Do not go into binging on empty caloric foods like sugar, alcohol, sweetened aerated drinks, sweetened anything. White sugar anyways is ageing accelerator so I would rather go sugar free and low fat. But just having appropriate diet won't qualify to burn the already stored fat, a moderate intensity exercise regime consisting of equal cardio to resistance training of 35 minutes each on alternate days a week is a must do.

Prevent Oxidative Stress - Well it goes without saying that the immediate reason that worsens diabetes mellitus or its anvil in our body is the ever increasing pollution of toxins due to stress, substance abuse, chemical environment, physical pollution like dust, unhygeinic conditions etc. These factors lead to accumulative oxidation due to free radicals causing more stress which is a chain reaction as explained in earlier post. Each one of us even kids are subjected to this oxidation in the body leading to multiple lifestyle disorders like diabetes, ageing, heart disease, neurological problems, liver disorder etc. Douse your system in fresh fruits everyday that is my pill to health and I keep repeating it. The next best way to prevent free radicals from causing damage to your tissues is via omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids or better described as n3 and n6 are the modern world elixir to longevity present in tiny amounts yet very effective. Salmon, walnuts, pistachios, soyabean, trout, tuna, mackrel, rice bran oil, safflower oil, olive oil, fresh olives, any dry nut are great sources of n 3 and n 6 however the ratio of n3:n6 should be calculated by your registered dietitian while planning your diet routine.

Regularity of meals - This one fact is taken for a royal ride in today's scenario. If you are too busy to eat your food or snack in given time intervals do not pester people with your health issues and how you plan to start it next monday or the first day of next month or whenever. You need to make a simple choice, what is important to you pleasing yourself with the "I'm so busy" line or pleasing yourself with "my health is first, rest can wait" attitude. Regular meals gives insulin secretion a flow and regulates the body's metabolism to perform optimally not stting it off the track to go into a sudden jerk every now and then. When your body functions in rhythmic manner fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism work in sync with each other and the opposite is also true which leads to the body always storing fat to save itself from the starvation you impose on it everyday and then a gush of fatty food immediately afterward. Regular meals regulates insulin thereby regulates carbohydrate metabolism giving sufficient energy to the body hence regulating fat and protein metabolism. Erratic habits of eating can land you into insulin resistance. Eating every 3 hours between breakfast to dinner is a non compromise. The hour gap between your dinner to next day's breakfast should not exceed 10 hours no matter what.

Get this in line you won't see the face of diabetes ever let only any lifestyle disorder. If you think you can't follow these basic principals without compromising on the palate well do I have some surprise for you ? But for that you'll have to wait for the upcoming recipe posts. Till then...

Wish you wellness.

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